Mission :: What We Do :: Why We Do It :: Who We Are

Mission

To support youth voices.

Core Beliefs

We believe in the importance of listening and telling, and through this process, the power of stories to build connections and foster resilience.

What We Do

Our Story Workshops bring volunteer story coaches (professionals from the community and project alums from within the school) into high school English classrooms to encourage and support student storytellers. The stories that emerge offer opportunities for learning and connection between peers and community members.

Our College Essay Workshops offer free, out-of-school support to students developing college admissions essays. Participating students attend workshops on essay development and are matched with volunteers (journalists, writers, editors, former English teachers etc.) who offer support and encouragement during this challenging and high stakes process.

Our Student Advisory Team (SWASAT) is a group of Story Works participants who meet outside of school time to plan and conduct projects to support youth stories. First launched in January 2015, SWASAT has since hosted a sold-out multi-school event featuring storytellers from five different Anchorage high schools, led story workshops for elementary-aged students, and produced a three-part podcast featuring stories about bullying and bullying prevention. They are also developing a series of videos to support Story Works participants in classrooms beyond Anchorage.

Why We Do It

Story Works Alaska seeks to capture some of the growing energy around storytelling in our community and share it with the students in our schools.

Our workshops offer students and teachers a chance to receive additional support from trained volunteers while engaging in the timeless art of constructing meaning through stories–their stories.

Who We Are

Story Works Alaska is sustained by the efforts of dedicated teachers, students, and the volunteers who work with them. Among others, our volunteers include journalists, scientists, non-profit professionals, medical professionals, retired teachers, lawyers, writers, members of the military, professional storytellers, and two mathematicians. To learn more about some of the individuals involved, please read on.

Students

Since Story Works began (way back in February 2014), over 1,500 Anchorage-area students from Polaris, West, East, Service, Bartlett, Steller, and Dimond High Schools have participated in our workshops. These students have shared their stories with volunteers, teachers, and each other. They’ve told them in classrooms, in hallways, in stairwells, and on school stages. A handful have also told their stories at Arctic Entries events –in front of an audience of up to 1,600 people– and with the Storyteller’s Guild at the Anchorage Museum.

Story Works student storytellers from Anchorage’s West and Dimond High Schools have also been featured on the Alaska Teen Media Institute’s youth radio show, In Other News. The Story Works Student Advisory Team also planned and hosted multi-school shows both last spring and this fall! Thanks to all of them for their work!

Co-founders

Vik Patel (co-founder and lecturer) got his early start in story coaching by picking apart his parents’ attempts to punish him. “If you take away my television privileges, you become the bad guy. Inspire me, Mom; don’t make me root against you.” Happily, Vik grew to be less obnoxious as an adult, but still enjoys working with storytellers. A longtime producer and story coach for Anchorage storytelling program Arctic Entries, Vik wrote the first draft of the Story Works curriculum and sheds a tear each and every time we shorten the Storytelling Basics lesson.

Regan Brooks (co-founder and Acting Executive Director) is a former public school science teacher who loves Newton’s laws, stories, birds, her family, and living in Anchorage. Regan earned her BA from Cornell University and her MS from the University of Vermont. She heartily encourages you to check out co-founder, Vik’s new public radio series, New Arrivals.

Rachel Kittoe (co-founder and teacher) has been teaching English at West High School since 2009. She writes: “One of the reasons I enjoy bringing Story Works to my students is that it enhances our classroom community and builds morale. It also really helps students learn how to think about structure and editing. The process of crafting a story to tell verbally is very similar to the writing process and, as we work, I can see students learn how to transfer these skills.”

Temperance Tinker (co-founder and teacher) spends her days at West High School conserving habitat for the endangered species of the teenage mind. Temperance first hosted Story Works (then The West High Storytelling Project) in her classroom in February 2014. She is excited to be involved in bringing storytelling into the high school English Language Arts classroom.

Board

Britta Hamre (story coach and Secretary, Board of Directors) In 2008 Britta‘s family moved to Anchorage, Alaska and it has been the best thing that has ever happened to her. She graduated with a BA of Sociology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2016 and has worked as a baker, refugee case manager, and food advocate. Britta enjoys running, skiing, meeting new dogs, good food, good books, and good company. She has been a Story Works Alaska volunteer for over a year and believes community happens when we take the time to listen.

Katie Reilly (story coach and Treasurer, Board of Directors) is the former Adolescent Health Project Coordinator at the State of Alaska, DHSS, Division of Public Health and a frequent volunteer story coach. A returned Peace Corps volunteer, Katie holds a Masters in Public Health, and now works with local consulting firm Agnew::Beck. Katie loves walking her dog, Bark Lee and singing with her band, Sassafrass.

Löki GaleTobin (Board of Directors) was born in Nome, Alaska and attended the University of Alaska Anchorage, graduating with a dual Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Sociology. She is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Azerbaijan) and earned her Master of Arts degree through the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Her thesis, a comparative analysis of indigenous cultural transmission in Alaska, Azerbaijan, and Canada, is 139 pages. Löki Gale enjoys Star Trek The Next Generation, volunteerism, local food movements, American Sign Language, Mixed Martial Arts, hiking, rock climbing, and cooking.

Regan Brooks (co-founder, story coach, President, Board of Directors, and Acting Executive Director) is the same Regan listed above. She is a former public school science teacher who loves Newton’s laws, stories, birds, her family, and living in Anchorage. She earned her BA from Cornell University, her MS from the University of Vermont, and her Certificate in Nonprofit Management from The Foraker Group. She really loves pancakes.

Staff and Partners

Rosey Robards (story coach and workshop facilitator) is the director at Alaska Teen Media Institute. She is also a member of the storyboard for the Arctic Entries storytelling event and host of the Arctic Entries Radio Hour. She graduated from the University of Alaska Anchorage with a degree in Journalism and Public Communications (May 2005). Storytelling has always been one of her favorite things to do, and she finds it really rewarding to help others improve their stories as well. Bring on the stories!

Cari Zawodny (Student Advisory Team facilitator) is the facilitator of Anchorage Youth Vote, the Spirit of Youth Teen Advisory Council, and the Story Works Alaska Student Advisory Team. A long-time Alaskan, Cari earned her BA in Filmmaking from Montana State University, and is the former Director of Anchorage’s Promise. Cari is raising two amazing kids and loves dance, writing, and making things with her hands. If she could have any super power it would be the ability to locate keys with nothing but the power of her mind.

Hannah Smith (Program Associate) has long loved listening to, writing, and reading stories. She graduated from Williams College with a degree in English in 2015. One of her favorite parts of college was organizing a weekly Story Time that featured one student, staff, or faculty per week, and their favorite cookies for the audience. She is also a life-long Girl Scout, and competitive cross-country skier and coach. She is excited to land at Story Works in Anchorage, where both her passion for stories and love for outdoor adventure are shared.

Amanda Dale (College Essay Workshop Facilitator) is an education program coordinator at the Alaska Humanities Forum. She has worked as a tutor and instructor for teens writing essays and personal statements in public schools, private institutes and as a freelancer in the U.S., Japan, Chile, Spain and Denmark. She has worked as a proofreader and editor for university students since 2014, and has a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication from Linfield College (2003) and a master’s degree in Lifelong Learning from Aarhus University (2014).

Amazing Volunteers (just a few of the many)

Jason Slemons (storyteller and story coach) was born and raised in Alaska. His life story, of which he strives to be the hero, includes a deep and abiding love of his family, mathematics, snow, skiing, and soccer. In a continual effort to give back even a small fraction of what he has gotten out of the last 35 years of life, he volunteers for Story Works. It turns out that listening to others tell their stories is as satisfying as making sense of his own.

Marc Spooner (story coach and tube guru) is an attorney, programmer, and literature freak who loves This-American-Life-style oral prose and hanging out with people who have interesting things to talk about. He is excited that he’s been able to help Story Works kids grind their storytelling chops, and he’s glad that this marathon coding session (the result of which is the AKSW version 2.0 you see before you) is going to streamline the volunteer application and signup debacle, if only a little bit. And pretties all around.

Other Super-Humans Who Have Helped Story Works (but now live far away)

Robert Stormo (story coach and workshop facilitator) is the former assistant director of the Alaska Teen Media Institute (ATMI) and graduated from the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2007 with a degree in Journalism and Public Communications. After graduation he transitioned from college radio to a broadcasting company in Anchorage. While at ATMI, he enjoyed working with youth to get their stories on air by facilitating the production of the youth-produced radio show “In Other News” on KNBA 90.3 FM.

Lila Hobbs (story coach and social media maven) is a former associate at Agnew::Beck Consulting and has a background in politics. She graduated from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland with a degree in International Relations. Lila’s love for learning about people and hearing their stories has led her around the world. She believes that everyone has a unique story and should have the opportunity to be heard. In her spare time, Lila can be found teaching yoga at a local substance abuse recovery program, and summiting pristine mountain peaks.

Tara Young (story coach) Over the past fifteen years, Tara Young has produced and edited arts and culture programming for a wealth of companies including Sundance Channel, The Criterion Collection, Vice Media, and Etsy. She is currently a video journalist at Alaska Dispatch News. Young’s interest in storytelling and documentary has led her to notable and quirky places and people around the world –a woodworker in rural Missouri, a Mexican family band in the Rio Grande Valley, and an abandoned textile mill town in Lancashire, UK. Her stories seek to get to the heart – of the story, the character, and what it means to be human.

Plus… another 100+ volunteers and 10+ teachers –all of whom have contributed countless hours towards supporting students and their stories.

You can can keep in touch with the Story Works Alaska team in a number of ways…

If you are interested in becoming a supporter too, please click here to donate any amount you choose! All donations will help support youth in Story or College Essay Workshops.

February 2018

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Please...

Before using the online registration system confirm that your application has been approved and make sure you can attend (or have attended) an orientation session prior to your volunteer date. We will have to decline any unapproved registrations. Thanks for your understanding!